


To Be Free

by Miss_Murdered



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, M/M, robot hunter!rin, robot!haru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-26
Updated: 2014-11-26
Packaged: 2018-02-27 02:28:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2675552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Murdered/pseuds/Miss_Murdered
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin is assigned to decommission a robot called Haruka. Day Five of RinHaru Week.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Be Free

**Author's Note:**

> I kinda liked this idea so I might expand on this but IDK... we'll see if I get time.

Rin didn’t want the job. Not from the moment he got it. He’d “decommissioned” a lot of old robots now – the old AI systems becoming obsolete quicker and quicker – but Rin didn’t want to destroy this particular model. As this particular model was so new, so life-like and real that when Rin saw them in the rain soaked and neon lit streets, he didn’t notice they were robots until they were so close that his detection device on his belt buzzed, Rin looking back to identify the machine.

These were Iwatobi’s best but this one had gone rogue – gone off the grid and the system. And that wasn’t good as the robots now were so damn advanced that they almost had personalities, seemed to have feelings and Rin had read through the file on his tablet, swallowing as he saw those blue eyes that looked soulful staring back at him. The face may’ve been blank, the mouth set in a grim determined line but there was something more to this robot that being a component of its parts. It had… something.

It was why Rin had a bad feeling about it and “decommissioning” it. When he’d first started his job, it had felt very clinical and what it was meant to feel like. That he was destroying robots – the older machines looking clunky and unartistic, their faces plasticy and their eyes glassy. In just the short span of years, they’d changed and now when Rin looked at his targets, they looked at him with questioning eyes and sad expressions before he pulled the trigger of Taser – the electric static breaking apart wires and metal from the inside out.

This robot was called Haruka. Rin hated how they all had names these days. They used to be just numbers – model number 12/000 or something. But Iwatobi wanted the robots to be more lifelike, wanted them to be thought of as workers and parts of people’s families – often designing them to be nannies and cleaners. Haruka had been in a family – bought by a rich family to train their children in sports – swimming and jogging and such. But by all accounts, those children had mistreated the robot. They’d tried various ways of stopping it from carrying out its duties, the oldest boy having some rudimentary hacking skills and corrupting some of Haruka’s original software. And after doing that… well, Haruka had escaped from his “home”, the safeguards put in place to keep him contained destroyed by a key stroke.

Rin was sympathetic to robots like Haruka. Robots were mistreated and Rin didn’t like how some people treated them and it sounded like Haruka had suffered some shit at the hands of his last owners. But that abuse didn’t matter – Haruka still had to be decommissioned. His parts may be reused but the core components – what made Haruka what he was – would be fried by the pulse of energy from Rin’s Taser. It was sad but that was Rin’s job. Nothing he could do.

Wandering through the neon lit streets, Rin felt the drizzle of another rainy evening, his eyes glancing between the people he crossed paths with and the device he was holding that indicated the small red “dot” that was Haruka. The kids may’ve messed with his systems but his GPS system was still working and Rin had activated to find the robot. And he was following that dot, walking through the thin streets and searching for Haruka.

Haruka was meant to look nineteen and fit and healthy. His hair was jet black, his eyes deep blue and his face was handsome by any standard. And Rin still felt the creep of nausea knowing what he would be doing to that robot that looked so beautifully perfect and human.

The smell of fried food wafted around Rin’s head as he walked but he didn’t feel hungry despite the delicious smells as he kept following that dot. The streets were full of people – night was when everything happened – drugs and sex sold, crime committed. The city was overrun at night and the authorities were ineffectual. Rin wasn’t part of the government, not part of the crooked police force, instead he was hired privately through his company, Samezuka, cases handed over by his cold hearted boss with a wave of his head and a smile on his face.

He guessed he should be grateful he had a job as he saw the pros on the street corners, their bodies exposed and make-up bright. He could’ve ended up like that – or a gun runner or dealer. So Rin counted his blessings for falling into this particular career and finding his feet in the city that had ruined so many good people.

It was then he spotted Haruka, the dark hair and the pale skin, the blue hooded sweatshirt. He was walking quickly but not in any way to rouse suspicion and Rin wondered if he knew that he was “wanted”. Dead robot walking or something. But it didn’t seem like he knew as he walked the same rain soaked streets as Rin did.

Rin wanted to think of Haruka as nothing but a robot as it would make what he had to do easier. As he would be tasering him and then he’d be calling it in to Sousuke, waiting for him to arrive on his bike to cart away the “remains”. It usually garnered some attention from passer-by’s but Rin would glare with his brightly coloured eyes and intimidate all that came close, growling under his breath to stop scrap men from stealing pieces or kids from trying to get some kind of “trophy” from a dead robot. But despite how Rin wanted to think of Haruka as nothing but wires and plastic, he couldn’t when he turned around, checking behind him as he crossed a busy road full of bikes and old cars, their eyes meeting briefly in a moment where time stopped.

His eyes, they were too damn blue to be “real” human but then Rin saw the humanity behind them. There was no way that Haruka was just a machine. And he also saw realisation across the face, an expression of shock and Rin found out quickly that Haruka knew who he was. And his response was to run.

Rin made a noise in the back of his throat and started to run too, barging through the crowds and receiving many angry stares and scowls. He wondered how Haruka knew who he was but then he figured he’d clocked the device in his hand, the Taser on his belt and maybe the intense expression on his face. Rin looked like a robot cop, he supposed or maybe Haruka knew his time was soon up.

So he did what anyone would do. Run.

The chase was hard for Rin as Haruka had been designed as a sleek and powerful robot, athletic and so he could run faster than Rin ever could as he made his way through the crowds. The only way Rin could stop him was perhaps to shoot him in action but then Rin couldn’t risk hitting people too. But maybe  his luck came in as Haruka turned, flashing those incredible soulful eyes in Rin’s direction before he crossed a busy intersection of two streets, Rin watching wide-eyed as he collided with a yellow cab, Haruka rolling over the top of it and then ending up on the asphalt.

The cab didn’t stop but people did and before Rin could get close enough there was already a small crowd surrounding his target.

Haruka wasn’t too damaged, part of the reason being the fact he was a newer model but Rin could see hints of sparks as he approached.

“Move!” he shouted, “this is my job!”  
Some people heeded Rin’s warning and others didn’t care but Rin managed to get to Haruka, leaning down to see the way the robot was looking sadly in his direction as though he knew his time was up. And when their eyes met this time, Rin knew he couldn’t do what he needed to do despite it being his job.

“Come with me,” he commanded, reaching to grab for one of Haruka’s arms, feeling the metal wrapped in flesh like material.

Haruka didn’t fight, he was despondent and Rin guessed he’d done all his fighting in his escape from his awful “home” and now he was done. Maybe the cab had damaged some of his circuits but Rin was able to keep hold of Haruka and drag him along the streets, watched by so many eyes as he felt black oil on his fingertips.

He didn’t know what to do with the robot now so instead of reporting him into Sousuke and finishing his job, Rin found a cheap by the hour motel, paying for it with cash and under a fake name, the haze of neon covering them both.

Once he’d paid, Rin keeping a hold of Haruka, they went to the room, it small and unappealing as he expected, Rin locking it behind them and checking the bathroom and windows to see if Haruka could escape while he decided.

“What are you going to do with me?”

Rin turned as the robot spoke, his voice soft and smooth, flowing over him like water.

“I haven’t decided… I’m just paid to destroy a robot called Haruka and –“

“Haru,” he interrupted and Rin blinked. “My name is Haru.”

He didn’t know what to say to that and instead Rin ran a hand through his hair, feeling the sweatiness from his run.

“Haru… I’m going to leave in a few minutes and pretend I didn’t find you…”

“Why?” Haruka asked, his head cocked and eyes displaying confusion.

“Because… you deserve a shot to be free.”

And with that, Rin gave a small shrug and smile, his hand on the door handle but before he could move, Haruka had walked across the room, grabbing hold of Rin’s wrist before he pressed his lips to Rin’s, a gentle kiss that tasted of metal and oil.

“Thank you.”


End file.
